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MicroBrew is Not Really New

The United States and in fact most of the industrialized world is built for mass market. If you drink a commercial beer, you can order that beer on one coast, travel to the other coast and have the exact same drinking experience. You can even hop a plane, travel across the pond and drink the identical concoction of commercially distributed beer. With the exception of some adjustments on the can and a variation in the price, the liquid inside is always consistent, always the same. You rarely have to worry about a surprise.

You can rest at ease…unless you’re like us and the lack of surprise, the endless predictability alone makes you restless.

Man’s ability to brew and enjoy beer is much older than our ability to globally distribute a single blend. Long before we had refrigerated trucks and complex distribution systems most towns had a local brewery with a flavor unique to the area, fed by the local water and fostered from the local spirit. Brew Masters selected hops and labored over wort in corner breweries instead of massive production facilities. Locals drank from their microbrewery and when they traveled they tasted the new flavors of their destination.

In the 1940s, If you lived in San Antonio you probably drank LoneStar and if you traveled to Milwaukee you tried out some Blatz. By the 1960s Blatz was sold to Pabst in keeping with a national trend toward large manufacturers. Chicago for example did not have a single registered brewery by 1980 but in the early 1900s it had over 45.

The silver lining in this history is the resurgence of micro brewing in this century. Big and small cities have seen a steady uptick in local breweries and a resulting explosion of craft beers. It’s not uncommon to find supplies like hops, malt, grain, carboys, yeast, brew trees, and wort chillers in someones kitchen or garage and a unique can, bottle, or keg housing a one of a kind brew. Today we expect quality but reject a one-size-fits-all experience in favor of individuality. In the beer world individuality and adventure dominate home brewing.

Avid Brew and Grow is honored to supply high quality supplies to novices and masters who say no to boring beer and brew their own adventure in homes around the country.